The present invention relates to an indicator for compliance with the required action of a recurring event and more particularly to an indicator for compliance with the taking of a medication on a regular predetermined sequence.
It is easy for anyone to lose track of whether there has been compliance with a required action of a recurring event where the very repetition of that event makes it hard to keep in memory compliance with any one specific occurrence. Where that recurring event may be something as mundane as feeding the dog, the routine and ordinary nature of the task may make the occurrence of an individual feeding so much less than memorable that some short time later, an individual can be left uncertain of whether or not the dog was fed its dinner. Where the recurring event is the taking of a medicine, the age of the patient, or the symptoms of the condition for which the medication is prescribed may increase the potential of memory loss of whether an individual dosage has or has not been taken at its scheduled time.
Moreover, where more than one individual may be responsible for the compliance with the required action of a recurring event, the potential for miscommunication increases the possibility that an individually scheduled action may be missed or may be accomplished twice. For example, a husband may not know whether his wife has already fed the dog before going off to work or a babysitter may not know if a child was given the morning dosage of a medication by the child's parent.
With regard to the problem of tracking compliance with a recurring medication such as a birth control pill, the prior art provides a number of dispensing containers. As shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,288,277 and 3,450,252, both to Hallerbach, these dispensers typically provide a plurality of pill holding units, each of which may be marked with an indicia such as a day. Each unit can be selectively opened to allow access to the individual medication contained in that unit. The required formation and subsequent filling of a plurality of pill containing units requires a relatively complex structure and a relatively labor intensive effort. Other tablet dispensing devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,236 to Huck provide pill dispensers of multiple components which move relative to each other to allow access to pills in individual of a plurality of table holding units. Even more recent U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,548 to Barker et al. discloses a relatively complex structure comprising at least five separate elements which are joined to allow unidirectional relative movement. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,251 to Kusz also discloses a relatively complex ratcheting mechanism to provide unidirectional relative movement between components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,453 discloses an even more complex pill dispenser which is provided with a built-in clock and a motor to mechanize the movement of various components of the dispenser to provide access to pockets containing the plurality of pills. Not only is such a device of relatively complex structure, but it also requires careful and extensive effort to load the appropriate combination of a plurality of pills into the appropriate pill dispensing pocket.